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Kaymer and Spieth keeping challengers at bay
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Kaymer and Spieth keeping challengers at bay

Justin Rose, Brian Rose and Francesco Molinari were all on the move at The Players Championship, but Martin Kaymer and Jordan Spieth continued to elad the way as the final round began.

Martin Kaymer

Rose began his final round two hours before the leaders on Sunday - but was two shots closer to them without hitting a shot.

The Englishman was penalised two shots following his third round on Saturday after his ball moved as he set up to play his third shot from the back of the 18th green.

The US Open champion would have escaped with a one-shot penalty if he had replaced his ball, but appeared uncertain that the ball had moved after consulting with playing partner Sergio Garcia.

That meant a third round of 73 and left Rose five under par, seven shots behind Ryder Cup team-mate Martin Kaymer and Jordan Spieth, only for the penalty to be rescinded by tournament officials on Sunday.

The penalty was rescinded under a new decision on the rules of golf which was announced in November last year and came into effect from January 1, 2014.

Decision 18/4 states that "where enhanced technological evidence shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time."

Rose was making the most of his opportunity, birdies from close range at the second, fourth and ninth taking him to ten under par and just two shots off the lead as the final pair teed off.

Rose's chances suffered a massive blow when he dropped shots on the tenth and 11th, the latter coming when he found water with his approach to the par five.

At eight under par he was back to five off the lead when Kaymer and Spieth both birdied the second, with Garcia, Jim Furyk and Brian Davis all on ten under.

Davis had carded seven birdies and one bogey in his first 12 holes to surge up the leaderboard, while Garcia had two-putted the second for a birdie.

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